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The Beckoning Silence By Joe Simpson ( Mountaineers Books )
Release Date: 2003-06
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List Price: $18.95
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 The film was better ( nigelnet )
I saw the documentary entitled "The Beckoning Silence" on a transatlantic flight and was so overawed by its beauty, its understated sense of drama and Simpson's captivating interviews that, when the film was done, I simply went back to the beginning and watched it again. On my return flight I watched the film a third time. Like Simpson I too had read "The White Spider" as a teen and it seems we were both mesmerized by the story of Hinterstoisser's desperate attempt to lead the climb down the Eiger.
I suppose I hoped that Simpson's book would be a chance to relive the film a fourth time and I've been disappointed. On film the man is a charismatic, thoughtful and fascinating interviewee and you truly get a sense of his inner turmoil about climbing. I'd previously read "Touching The Void" and found his writing-style uninspired so, having seen him talk with such passion on film, I was hopeful that this volume would reflect my new respect for the man. Didn't happen.
So: the book is a collection of climbing stories - many of them involving tragic ends - written in the familiar Simpson style. But the film? Now there's another story! Catch it if you can.
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 Stop Whining
For a guy with the true grit to drag himself out of a crevasse and down a South American mountain in "Touching the Void", he sure does a lot of whining at the begining of this book. His attempts at existentialism really bogs the book down. Once he gets down to doing what he is good at, writing about climbing, his description of his attempt on the Eiger is gripping stuff.
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Good read but doesn't quite work ( arthurdigbee )
This book on mountaineering is written by the author of another classic, *Touching the Void*. It's a good read but unsatisfying overall, at least to me.
Each chapter stands well enough on its own, and covers topics that are familiar in the mountaineering genre. In one chapter, a friend bails on a climb because he can't stand the growing death toll. In another, Simpson narrowly misses getting hit by an avalanche. The climax story is an attempt on the North Face of the Eiger - - what else? Simpson writes well and the stories work.
The underlying theme, though, is the hardy perennial of mountaineering: why do I do this dangerous thing even as friends continue to die? The book dances around this but never confronts this. Instead, Simpson keeps climbing even as a louder and louder voice inside him tells him to stop. The sport comes across as an addiction that can't be explained to someone who doesn't share it.
It's telling that when Simpson seriously thinks of quitting, he tries paragliding as an alternative. He and his mountaineering friends view this *dangerous* sport as a *safer* alternative to mountaineering. Why not try something more mainstream like mountain biking instead? I would have liked to see Simpson confront the issues suggested here - - whether he's pursuing adrenaline rush, death wish, a need to be extreme, or whatever it is.
Alas, the book does not provide much illumination in such matters, so I don't think it works as a whole. It succeeds as a series of magazine articles stapled together.
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 the beckoning silence
book in excellent condition
arrived really quick in the desert in the middle of australia
...thanks
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Great combination of climbing history and history in the making
I decided to read this book after reading Simpson's first book Touching the Void, which is one of the most interesting and inspiring books I have ever read. The Beckoning Silence shows a different side of Joe, and one that is most entertaining. He is someone with the confidence to make fun of himself as well as expose his fears but with an unwavering inner strength and wisdom. Originally I thought the book would be entirely about climbing the Eiger, but he actually takes you on a journey climbing several mountains while paralleling his experiences with his climbing heroes of the past and interweaving the impact they have had on his life. He also takes you paragliding in Spain; although, reading about his fear of flying while on a jetliner circling the airport with mechanical problems was one of the funniest things I have read in a long time. The last quarter of the book is dedicated to his climb and his fear of climbing the Eiger and all his heroes who paved the way with their lives before him. The reflection on the death of two other British climbers on the last three pages was a bit melodramatic and way to drawn out, but I think you'll really enjoy this book and since I heard he just finished the movie of the same title, you may want to check that out as well. Incidentally, "Touching the Void" was an excellent documentary, one of the best and most interesting I have ever seen and very true to the book.
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